CANTON, Ohio (AP) - A Canton man pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife, claiming he killed her because she was suffering from cancer.

The Canton Repository reports (http://bit.ly/1MvtTPw ) 37-year-old Jessie McCroskey upset relatives of his wife, 40-year-old Pebbles McCroskey, with his smirks in court Wednesday after pleading guilty to murder and a firearms charge in her shooting death.

McCroskey said his wife had late stage lymphoma and he couldn’t bear to watch her suffer for another moment.

Family members of the deceased say her cancer had been in remission for more than three years.

Prosecutors say McCroskey went to the Canton police station on May 23 and told officers “I need to be arrested. I shot my wife.”

McCroskey was ruled competent and his mental health was not questioned in the case.